Hi! I’m Jess, and I’m your Print & Features Editor for 2023/24. If you’re a part of our editorial team you’ve probably met me in some capacity: whether I’m frantically sorting my pages in the office or badgering you on our Facebook groups – thanks for putting up with this. But if we haven’t met, hello! This is my third year as a part of Redbrick, my first year on committee, and I’m currently studying MA Film and Television: Research and Production at UoB.

Before I start gabbing on about my own time with Redbrick, I’d like to say a huge thank you to our wonderful committee, editors, EAs, and contributing writers. I’m pretty gobsmacked that this is our third print of the year already, and even though Print is my main job, I am incredibly grateful for the massive team of students that are integral to this paper’s creation and distribution. Redbrick print issues are entirely a team effort, and I could not be more proud of everything that we have achieved so far this academic year. I would also like to thank one of last year’s Print & Features editors, Sophie, for dealing with my constant texts and queries about the role while we were starting up. Absolute legend behaviour.

Last year, I was one of our Film Section editors, and this role was one of the best things that I have done while at UoB. It’s been quite an unlikely trajectory that I’ve ended up so deep in the Redbrick bubble really. 

Coming off of the back of being a part of 2020’s first-year Covid-cohort, I had no interest in societies in my first year: they were all on zoom, as was everything else, so I saw no point in bothering. In hindsight, this really does annoy me, as now that I know how Redbrick functions, it was probably one of the only societies that could function fairly well during the pandemic. In all honesty, I joined Redbrick in my second year exclusively because my housemate asked me to go to Media Ball 2021 with her. 

So I joined in second year, went to Media Ball (had a blast) and decided that maybe I should actually give Redbrick a crack. I wrote a few small feature entries and a review of that surprisingly okay romcom The Lost City (2022) for film, before deciding that as I was coming to my third year, it was worth applying to be an editor and actually giving getting stuck in with societies a fair chance. 

I am so glad that I did. Through Redbrick, I have met some of the best people that I know, and I actually feel like I’ve had a chance to make an impact on campus through what I’ve written and produced with Redbrick – even if most of this has been silly reviews of silly films. Print & Features has been such a fun role so far, and I’m so glad that I put myself through reading that horrifying speech in the Guild Council Chambers last year. I feel incredibly privileged to be here with Redbrick, and I’m so excited for the rest of the academic year!

Jess x